Abstract
The helminth community infecting Miniopterus natalensis was studied at two localities, the De Hoop Nature Reserve (DHNR) (n = 57), Western Cape Province and Pretoria (n = 12), Gauteng Province, South Africa. Hosts from the DHNR had formed part of an earlier, unrelated study and were all pregnant females. A single hymenolepidid cestode species, the nematodes Molinostrongylus ornatus and Litomosa chiropterorum together with nematodes of the subfamily Capillariinae were present at both study sites, while a single digenean, Allassogonoporus sp., was only found in hosts from the DHNR. The prevalence of helminth infections was high at both localities, 68.4% in the DHNR and 77.7% in Pretoria, whereas the mean intensity of infection was low at the DHNR (3.76 +/- 3.15), but higher in Pretoria (10.4 +/- 9.9). Molinostrongylus ornatus and, to a lesser extent L. chiropterorum, were the main contributors to the higher intensities in Pretoria. The species richness ranged from 0 to 4 at both localities.
Highlights
Despite the remarkable diversity of South African birdlife, knowledge concerning their helminth parasites is scant (Ortlepp 1937, 1938a, b, 1963; VersterPatsinska-Kloryga 1987) and even sparser on the structure of their helminth communities.A first step was taken by Crowe (1977), who compared the influence of sex, age and habitat on the Accepted for publication 28 May 2008—Editor intestinal helminths of Helmeted Guineafowls, Numida meleagris (Linnaeus, 1758), at Kimberley, Northern Cape Province, South Africa
A total of 11 951 helminths representing ten nematode, 11 cestode and a single acanthocephalan species were recovered from the alimentary canal of the 15 guineafowls
A single trematode species, Dicrocoelium macrostomum, was present in five of nine guineafowls examined for this parasite
Summary
Despite the remarkable diversity of South African birdlife, knowledge concerning their helminth parasites is scant (Ortlepp 1937, 1938a, b, 1963; VersterPatsinska-Kloryga 1987) and even sparser on the structure of their helminth communities.A first step was taken by Crowe (1977), who compared the influence of sex, age and habitat on the Accepted for publication 28 May 2008—Editor intestinal helminths of Helmeted Guineafowls, Numida meleagris (Linnaeus, 1758), at Kimberley, Northern Cape Province, South Africa. Thereafter, Alexander & McLaughlin (1997) provided a comprehensive analysis of the helminth communities of four species of ducks at Barberspan, South Africa. It is apparent from Bush’s (1990) chapter on helminth communities in avian hosts, that considerably more information on helminth community dynamics in birds from aquatic environments than those from terrestrial habitats is available. This paper analyses the composition and structure of the helminth community of 15 Helmeted Guineafowls in the Limpopo Province, even though small numbers of hosts were available and a larger sample might have a different outcome.
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